1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a sales aid in the form of a printed folded sheet and, in particular, to a sales aid for selling ads in printed media or on the internet, etc.
2. Description of the Related Art
When offering goods and services, in particular when selling ads in print media or on the internet, etc., it is necessary for the service provider, the salesperson respectively, to present an offer to a respective customer which is as ideally customized as possible. In this type of presentation, the intention is commonly not only to convince the (potential) customer of an offer, but also to find the best possible solution for the specific customer. By necessity, the solution customarily ends up being worked out in its final form during the actual conversation with the customer. This ultimately ensures a tailor-made offer being made to the customer in efficient fashion.
Yet to be taken into account when working out a customer-specific solution while meeting with a customer is that, on the one hand, the customer data crucial to the service provider or salesperson be available and transparent to both the service provider as well as the customer and, on the other hand, a customer-specific offer be developed in a manner which is clear and comprehensible to the customer. During such a meeting with a customer, it is often a case of, for example, convincing the customer that the proposed service generally promises economic success.
Yet it must also be considered that a salesperson or service provider only has a limited amount of time to present his or her ideas to the customer during such meetings. Given this short amount of time, it therefore becomes vital to convey ideas to the customer which are as optimized as possible.
In order to customize a service to a specific customer, customer-specific data is necessary such as the customer's volume of sales, the customer's market share, the number of employees the customer has, etc. Although this information is usually available to the salesperson prior to the customer meeting in the form of index cards, the salesperson is often uncertain whether the data in the file actually reflects the most current situation. Therefore, it is usually a case of reviewing the customer data with the customer at the beginning of each sales pitch. To ensure transparency between a salesperson and the customer, it then becomes necessary to present the customer data, for example on a printed sheet of paper.
It is furthermore necessary to briefly inform the customer about the advantages of the offered service or commodity at the beginning of the meeting. To this end, handouts or similar informational sheets are usually presented and then handed to the customer. Often during the course of a sales pitch, a salesperson will present an additional proposal (more or less already customized to the customer) which, for example, takes the salesperson's offered services into account. Here as well, such a proposal is usually made in the form of a handout prepared in advance by the salesperson and handed to the customer during the meeting. Using such a proposal as the basis, the actual customer-specific solution is then customarily worked out during the sales pitch.
Thus, generally speaking, a plurality of various different handouts serve as sales aids to present the advantages of offered services or goods during the course of a sales pitch. Another additional handout is moreover often used to inform a customer of a proposal in which the offered services or goods are already integrated. Furthermore, often a third handout is provided which contains the actual customer-specific solution worked out with the customer during the course of the sales meeting. Hence, all told, there are a number of handouts, informational sheets, etc., which are discussed during this type of sales meeting between a salesperson and a buyer.
The disadvantage to this conventional solution can especially be seen to be that of the buyer/customer often losing the overview of benefits and advantages to the offered services and goods over the course of the sales pitch. In other words, this means that the salesperson cannot present his service or commodity in an efficient manner. Also playing a large role is the only limited amount of time available for a sales pitch. Within this time frame, the salesperson has to present the advantages of his goods or service to the customer in as transparent a way as possible and, at the same time, work out the best possible solution for the customer.